Give Yourself A Financial 'Mission' To Save Like A Soldier

When you're in the military, saving money is different from most people. Often, expenses are accounted for and you don't usually have the freedom to blow through cash. If you're a civilian that needs to catch up on savings, "deploy" yourself for a set period to save like soldiers do.

As life tips blog Creating My Kaleidoscope suggests, giving yourself a set time period -- say, six months during which you ruthlessly reduce your spending can be easier than trying to eliminate things you enjoy indefinitely. Most of us can handle hard times for six months more easily than we can handle "Never go out to eat again, ever."

The key is not spending your income. It's not just about making coffee at home instead of purchasing expensive lattes. For someone like me, who is trying to pay off a large amount of debt, you need to be more extreme in your frugality. That is why I suggest you deploy yourself on a mission to save money. As with military deployments, set a specific amount of time set to complete your mission. You will have an easier time sticking with this assignment if you can rationalise that, for example, "it's only for six months" instead of an indefinite amount of time.

During this time, you can choose to take some severe, if temporary, measures. Move back in with your parents, or put your "blow money" towards paying down debt. If you're only going to take these extreme measures for a short period of time, it's easier to swallow, so make the most of it.

Comments

What most young Aussie Soldiers did when I was in.. Big first paycheck after deployment ... buy a car, not just any car, a car with all the bells and whistles. Then entertainment system and big ass TV then booze and women, but not necessarily in that order.